Draft Prospect: Nicolas Batum

[AFBlue]

EVERYONE LIKES THIS GUY CUS HES A FRENCHY!!! MARIO!!!!! OR RUSH!!!

Says the dude with a Frenchman in his avatar....

[K-State Spur]

EVERYONE LIKES THIS GUY CUS HES A FRENCHY!!! MARIO!!!!! OR RUSH!!!

since - of all the names that we're discussing - you chose to focus on those two, gotta wonder if you don't like the guys just because they're jayhawks.

note: everybody likes batum because he is a FREAK athlete and would fit the mold of a "long 3" that this board has been wanting for 5 years...

[NicolasBatum]

Draftez moi, vous ne le regretterez pas !
Et en plus je vous assure que je ne suis pas en contacte avec Tau .

[mystargtr34]

Who if we have 10 Frenchman in the team.

The point is

Batum > Rush
Batum > CDR

[nil.ball]

Please draft Batum, and we will trade with you after two years.

Steve Novak+2nd Rnd+Cash for the rights to Batum ftw!!

Thank you Spurs for Luis 3.0.

[14dave]

I saw Batum play several time and I can tell you he is exactly what we need!!
He is so talented and I think he will have a great NBA career! He wants to play in NBA immediatly after his draft.
If we can take him, we have to...

[TypicalSpursHater]

Please draft Batum, and we will trade with you after two years.

Steve Novak+2nd Rnd+Cash for the rights to Batum ftw!!

Thank you Spurs for Luis 3.0.

[spursfan98]

NE Patriots nba mock draft has Batum picked at 7 by LA Clippers.

http://www.nepatriotsdraft.com/2008/...ock-draft.html

[angelbelow]

its possible, clippers immediate future doesnt look great at the small forward position. They are relatively young esp if brand and maggette walk. Livingston, thornton, batum, kaman is a pretty good core to build around.

[Mr.Bottomtooth]

Draftez moi, vous ne le regretterez pas !
Et en plus je vous assure que je ne suis pas en contacte avec Tau .

Wee.

[Bruno]

He sucked ass today in French league.
Please Nicolas, continue to play like crap and hurt your draft stock.

[SPURSGOAT]

he won't fall to us.. and if he does will we have to wait for him for a few seasons to come over and potentially lose him like with Splitter!?

[Mr.Bottomtooth]

He's not under contract. He's said will come to the NBA.

[SPURSGOAT]

He's not under contract. He's said will come to the NBA.

sweet! still won't fall to us...

[Bruno]

AFAIK, he is still under contract and has a $300K NBA buyout.
All Euros aren't the same mold and there is no Splitter-like troubles with Batum.

[colargol]

He sucked ass today in French league.
Please Nicolas, continue to play like crap and hurt your draft stock.

[Mr. Body]

NE Patriots nba mock draft has Batum picked at 7 by LA Clippers.

http://www.nepatriotsdraft.com/2008/...ock-draft.html

This is completely unreasonable to me. Not a huge need, not the kind of player Dunleavy necessarily likes, and not after blowing it on an earlier international small forward in Korolev.

That whole mock draft is a big tub of failure. Barely 1 pick in 5 makes any sense.

[objective]

fwiw, Batum has the same agent as Mahinmi, whom the Spurs seem to get along with very well.

one can dream . . .

[Harry Callahan]

Splitter would've been, and possibly could still be a very solid NBA player.

Don't get me wrong, I like the guys you mentioned (especially Carl Landry) but it's not like the Spurs missed out on Gilbert Arenas or Carlos Boozer.

Obviously given hindsight the Spurs wouldn't have drafted Splitter, but at the time it was registered as a "steal".

If Splitter had been a sure fire cinch to come over, he would not have been available to the Spurs in the first place last year.

We just have to hope that he has a reasonable buyout in 2010 now and he wants to be an NBA player. Hopefully he will continue to improve. Too bad he wasn't taken with the 31st pick instead of the 28th.

[Harry Callahan]

Could the Spurs be aggressive for once and just buy a #1 draft pick to make up for the 2007 screwup? They need bodies - preferably athletic ones.

Teams in Salary Cap might be interested. The Spurs need inexpense (rookie cap) immediate help to take advantage of the good years Duncan and Ginobili have left.

[timvp]

I watched a scouting montage on Batum and I came away not too impressed. I've liked him but when you see him play extended minutes, he really doesn't have much skill to go with his athleticism. He also has a Boris Diaw level passiveness about him.

Batum is much more of a project that I thought he was. He's going to take two to three years to be ready. Can the Spurs really wait that long?

[AFBlue]

I watched a scouting montage on Batum and I came away not too impressed. I've liked him but when you see him play extended minutes, he really doesn't have much skill to go with his athleticism. He also has a Boris Diaw level passiveness about him.

Batum is much more of a project that I thought he was. He's going to take two to three years to be ready. Can the Spurs really wait that long?

Athletic NBA-ready players don't usually last to the 26th pick in the draft. Unless the Spurs are willing to move up, maybe significantly, I'm not sure they'll be able to find a player that fits both categories in this draft.

And if the Spurs had to go with one or the other, I think I'd rather have the athlete who's a couple years off....but that's just me.

[SenorSpur]

If Batum goes before Rush, that should bode well in the Spurs favor - unless, of course, they do decide to get aggressive and move up.

[Marcus Bryant]

Nicolas Batum

Batum is still in the mix for the French le, with his team Le Mans currently tied at 1-1 in the semifinals against Roanne. He’s delivering some solid, albeit unspectacular performances, averaging 13 points, 3.7 rebounds and 5.7 assists in the playoffs. A 9-assist effort (in just 24 minutes) in the first game of the quarterfinals against Cholet stands out among his stat-lines, while he reportedly played excellent defense on Cholet’s star Nando de Colo.

Everybody is aware by now that you’re likely not getting a real star in Batum, a go-to guy to anchor a team. But at the same time, he’s just a more consistent stroke away from virtually guaranteeing to become an excellent role player for any team picking him in the draft.

If Le Mans loses in the semi-finals, there is a possibility Batum will come to Treviso for a private workout with NBA teams. Otherwise he will come to the States and begin criss-crossing the country. According to his agent, his will be staying in the draft regardless of where he’s projected to go.

link

[Bruno]

Please Nicolas, continue to play like crap and hurt your draft stock.

Thanks Nicolas for having against hurt your draft stock yesterday in your last game of the year.
Next step for you is to suck at The Treviso camp and in workouts.

Please Nicolas, I know you can do it.